I really want to get these pygopodid articles finished. Actually, I really want to get the whole gekkotan series finished: the end is in sight and I know I'll get there eventually. In the previous articles on pygopodids (part of the long-running series on gekkotan lizards: see links below), we looked at pygopodid diversity and biology in general, and also at the phylogeny and evolutionary history of these fascinating, snake-like gekkotans. This time round, we look in more detail at the various different pygopodid taxa - not on a species-by-species basis (alas), but according to the units we typically term genera. The most famous pygopodids - the Lialis species or snake-lizards - are covered in the next article. [Diagram below shows a simplified version of the Jennings et al. (2003) phylogeny, with diagrammatic pygopodid heads from Kluge (1974).]

As before, remember that the group being discussed here is 'Pygopodidae of tradition', not Pygopodidae as currently formulated by some authors. More on this matter later.

Aprasia: blindsnake-mimicking pygopodids

I mentioned in the previous article that Aprasia appears to be a blindsnake-mimicking, ant-eating pygopodid.

The 11 or so Aprasia species resemble blindsnakes (Typhlopidae) in overall appearance, and also recall them in having a reduced dentition and a very short tail (a real constrast to other pygopodids where the tail can be as much as four times body length). The Aprasia species are also typhlopid-like in being binge-feeders (Webb & Shine 1994): that is, they feed infrequently but consume large numbers of prey on the occasions when they do feed. In snakes, there's a debate as to what binge-feeding in typhlopids (and other scolecophidians) might tell us about the early stages of snake feeding behaviour (see the discussion in the scolecophidian article).

The Aprasia species are variable in head shape (look at the portraits above, all from Kluge (1974). Head length in most of these animals is less than 5 mm). Most have deep, short, rounded snouts, but A. haroldi at least has a more pointed snout and a sloping dorsal outline to its head. A. rostrata has a distinctly overhanging, pointed snout tip [diagram shown here from Kluge (1974). It also has an extra postnasal scale, marked here with an arrow]. Or, had a distinctly overhanging, pointed snout tip: its type (and only) locality, Hermite Island off the north-west coast of Western Australia, was subjected to atomic weapons testing in the 1950s. No specimens have been collected since, rendering it possible that it's now extinct [UPDATE: it was rediscovered in 2006! And it's not unique to Hermite Island - it also occurs on nearby Trimouille Island. See comments].

A. smithi is unique among Aprasia species in having a black head. Its tail is black too - this is likely one of those cases where the tail-tip functioned as a 'head mimic'. One Aprasia species (A. aurita) differs from the others in possessing a small external ear (Kluge 1974).

Delma

Delma is the largest 'genus' within Pygopodidae, containing about 16 species. Prior to the publication of Kluge's enormous 1974 monograph, most Delma populations were included within D. fraseri (two additional species were also recognised pre-Kluge). It should therefore be noted that pre-Kluge articles that refer to D. fraseri typically refer to members of other species (but exactly which species can't usually be determined). [Adjacent image shows D. borea; by Stewart Macdonald, used with permission.]

Delma species have conspicuous ear openings and some have longitudinal stripes or dark transverse head bands, though these markings tend to fade with age (the opposite is true, however, of D. impar). To Northern Hemisphere eyes, Delma species superficially recall glass lizards or natricine snakes, but they're far more specialised for arid environments than either of those groups. [D. tincta shown below; by Stewart Macdonald, used with permission.]

At least some Delma species appear to be generalists, able to thrive in diverse microhabitats. D. australis, for example, has been discovered in grass clumps, in termite mounds, in spoil piles next to roads, and under logs and coral slabs on beaches. Individuals of D. fraseri have been discovered in 'disturbed' locations like trash piles and one specimen was even found swimming in a tidal pool (Kluge 1974).

The Javelin lizard

You'll have noticed from the pictures I've been using in this series of articles that the two Lialis species - popularly known as snake-lizards - have particularly long, slender snouts (of course, if you know anything about pygopodids already, you'll have known this anyway). However, Lialis isn't the only long-snouted pygopodid. The Javelin lizard Aclys concinna (named as a new species by Kluge in 1974) is very obviously named for its relatively long, pointed snout (Aclys means javelin) [see diagrams below, from Kluge (1974)]. This slender, smooth-scaled climbing species is also notable for its dark longitudinal stripes. The type specimen was collected in a back garden in Western Australia (insert comment about ease with which people can find new species in Australia); according to Kluge (1974), local people there already knew it as the 'hoop snake' because of its tendency to contort and coil when alarmed. It seems to have an extremely restricted range, being found only in the Shark Bay region and the lower west coast of WA (Cogger 2000).

While Kluge originally considered the Javelin lizard worthy of 'generic' status, he later demoted it to a 'subgenus' of Delma (Kluge 1976). MtDNA data supports its distinction relative to all other pygopodids, but combined data doesn't (Jennings et al. 2003) - in fact, combined data shows that it's the sister-taxon to the uncontroversial Delma species D. labialis. While some authors now refer to the Javelin lizard as D. concinna, others still use Kluge's original generic name for it.

The Javelin lizard is not just interesting for being scansorial, it also seems to include a significant amount of unspecified plant material in its diet (see John Scanlon's comment on this subject here). The fact that pygopodids combine a snake-like form with occasional herbivory (a not thoroughly surprising discovery in view of their gekkotan heritage) makes it tempting to suggest that they somehow have the potential to evolve dedicated herbivory in the future - how cool would that be? It also suggests that the total absence of herbivory (even occasional or facultative herbivory) in snakes might not be anything to do with the snake body plan: it could instead be linked to some indelible trait specific to snakes (and not to long-bodied squamates in general), like some aspect of their dentition, skull construction or digestive system.

Paradelma and Pygopus

Another monotypic genus - Paradelma - was traditionally recognised for Pa. orientalis (the Brigalow scaly-foot) from central-eastern Queensland [adjacent photo by Stewart Macdonald, used with permission.]. This woodland species is reported to be an occasional climber and, as we saw in the previous article, individuals in at least some populations eat tree sap. It's glossy brown with a black bar behind the head and conspicuous ear openings. Recent phylogenetic studies have found Pa. orientalis to be part of the Delma lineage, but as the 'most divergent' species (that is, it's outside of the clade formed by the other species) (Jennings et al. 2003). This means that its recognition at 'generic' rank is down to personal opinion, and different authors do different things. Pa. orientalis is one of several pygopodid species that may be threatened by habitat change, environmental disturbance, and/or habitat fragmentation (remember that many pygopodid species are restricted to relatively small areas and are hence already vulnerable to human-caused changes). The type locality - Peak Downs in Queensland - is now heavily cultivated and grazed.

Pygopus contains five relatively large, robustly built, widespread pygopodids, popular known as scaly-foots (seven species were recognised by Wells & Wellington (1985), one of which was named P. klugei). P. lepidopodus, the Common scaly-foot, is very attractive, often marked with a complex pattern of lateral stripes, lines and/or spots. There are a few surprising extra-limital records for P. lepidopodus: two from Tasmania and one from New Zealand (Kluge 1974). However, the Tasmanian records are apparently mistakes of some sort and the New Zealand record represented an introduction. The latter was established by W. R. B. Oliver in 1921 (yes, the same W. R. B. Oliver who wrote the 1949 monograph 'The moas of New Zealand and Australia'). I was interested to see that Oliver used the name 'Australian slow-worm' for the pygopodid in question.

Ophidiocephalus and Pletholax

One of the most poorly known pygopodids is Ophidiocephalus taeniatus, a small species (c. 10 cm long) with a pointed snout, enlarged head scales, small eyes and an external ear that's hidden from view by the temporal scales.

It seems to be a specialised 'sand-swimmer' and superficially it much resembles certain limbless (or near-limbless), sand-swimming skinks. Ophidiocephalus was long thought to be extinct following the 1897 collection of the single holotype from Charlotte Waters in southern Northern Territory, right in the middle of Australia. Additional specimens didn't show up until 80 years later in an adjacent part of northern South Australia. [Image above combines drawings from Kluge (1974) with photo by Stewart Macdonald, used with permission.]

Pletholax gracilis is apparently closely related to both Ophidiocephalus and the Aprasia species (like Ophidiocephalus, the genus is monotypic). It's a small, slender pygopodid with a pointed, beak-like snout, and it's unique to coastal areas of south-western Western Australia [adjacent diagrams from Kluge (1974)]. A dark stripe runs across the side of the face, beneath the eye and along the neck, and the throat and thorax are yellow in breeding males (Cogger 2000). A unique feature of this species is the presence of keeled ventral scales (Kluge 1974).

So, that's it, apart from Lialis. Most of the information you've just read is easy enough to find in books and the technical literature (as I said before, Pianka & Vitt (2003), Cogger (2000) and Kluge (1974) are the most useful primary resources on these lizards*) but not, it seems, so easy to find for free, online. Hopefully this article helps to remedy this situation a little. Knowledge is power, with great blogging comes great responsibility and all that.

* I really must get a copy of Aller Greer's The Biology and Evolution of Australian Lizards. Shame it's so expensive.

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One of my shortish-term goals at Tet Zoo has been to complete the series on gekkotan lizards I started in April 2010 (see below for links to previous parts). We continue with that series here, and this time round we're going to look at what should definitely be regarded as the weirdest of…

In the previous article I provided brief reviews of all currently recognised pygopodid 'genera'*. Except one. I've left this one until last, largely because it's the most spectacular (up to 75 cm in total length) and (arguably) most fascinating pygopodid. We've seen throughout this series of…

The previous article - part of my now lengthy series on gekkotan squamates (see links below) - provided an introduction to the neat and fascinating near-limbless Australasian gekkotans known as the pygopodids. Disclaimer: the group being discussed here is 'Pygopodidae of tradition', not Pygopodidae…

If you didn't know, I've been away. The last four articles that have appeared here were all scheduled to publish in my absence. I've been in Romania and Hungary where I had a great time - saw lots of neat animals (fossil and living) and hung out with some neat people. I'll talk about some of this…

its type (and only) locality, Hermite Island off the north-west coast of Western Australia, was subjected to atomic weapons testing in the 1950s.

:-o ...Wow. Talk about overkill.

the 1949 monograph 'The moas of New Zealand and Australia'

*blink*

what

Hopefully this article helps to remedy this situation a little. Knowledge is power, with great blogging comes great responsibility and all that.

'The moas of New Zealand and Australia' - yes Moa remains have been reported from Australia.

Dinornis queenslandiae De Vis, 1884 (subsequently transferred to Pachyornis as Pachyornis queenslandiae (De Vis, 1884))is based on a proximal fragment of a moa femur alleged to be from Kingâs Creek, Queensland. It appears that the bone was genuinely from a moa, it's the location that is suspect.

Recent sources have stated that the bone is probably that of a Pachyornis elephantopus (to which it is very similar), and presumably collected in New Zealand. It is speculated that the specimen having found it's way to the Queensland Museum was accidentally (or fraudulently) said to have come from King's Creek.

Unless further evidence of moas in Australia is found (and no one is holding their breath) the King's Creek femur fragment is just a curiosity of dubious provenance.

The mystery of the 'Queensland moa' was solved by Ron Scarlett in 1967 when he showed that the specimen - despite being labelled as having been found at King's Creek in Queensland - was clearly from a New Zealand midden (Scarlett 1969). It still isn't known for sure how to got to Queensland, but Canterbury Museum's Johann Haast was known to have sent moa midden bones to various locations abroad.

If Devis could have been believed, Queensland and the S-W Pacific would have a lot of otherwise extralimital vertebrate species, both fossil and recent.

Other examples: Tropidechis dunensis, actually an African Egg-eating Snake, described as from Queensland; and a specimen of Homoroselaps lacteus (Spotted Harlequin Snake, also African) described as a Denisonia (the species name escapes me at the mo) from Bougainville, Solomon Islands.

The general consensus has been that he was somewhat incompetent (there's a nice quote from Boulenger to that effect, quote early in DeVis's career), but you've got to wonder. I mean, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence... but three times, Mr Bond, is enemy action.

its type (and only) locality, Hermite Island off the north-west coast of Western Australia, was subjected to atomic weapons testing in the 1950s. No specimens have been collected since, rendering it possible that it's now extinct.

Hmm... On the ARKive website* there are no fewer than three recent-looking photographs allegedly of this species. Also, the IUCN currently lists the Hermite Island pygopodid as 'Vulnerable' rather than as 'Extinct'. What gives?

* Note that according to ARKive, Aprasia rostrata is also known as 'atomic worm-lizard'.

Thanks for comments. The only articles I've ever read about De Vis concern his work on birds, and here he made many odd mistakes, including crass misidentifications - e.g., pigeon boness labelled as those of megapodes or ducks - and bizarre acts of over-splitting: e.g., Leucosarcia proevisa De Vis, 1905 - named for the proximal end of a right humerus - and Nyroca effodiata De Vis, 1905 - named for the distal end of a right humerus - fit perfectly together... and form a humerus identical to that of the living bronzewings (Phaps). Likewise, Chosornis praeteritus De Vis, 1889 - supposedly part of a megapode carpometacarpus - and Palaeopelargus nobilis De Vis, 1891 - identified as a partial stork carpometacarpus - also fit together, forming a carpometacarpus of the megapode Progura.

I wasn't aware of his erroneous herp records: hmm, they do look suspicious (cf. Meinertzhagen). However, he was definitely hampered by a small research collection so went to efforts to get material from overseas... and was then very poor at record keeping.

As for the 'extinct' Aprasia rostrata/Atomic worm-lizard (LOL!)... as usual, things are complicated. When Kluge was writing, A. rostrata was thought to be unique to Hermite Island in the Monte Bello group. However, a pygopodid named A. fusca in 1979 (from the Exmouth Gulf region on the WA mainland) has since been regarded by some authors (e.g., Cogger 2000) as conspecific with A. rostrata. If this view is followed, A. rostrata is not an island endemic, and is obviously still around, even though the Hermite Island nominal population is still AWOL (so far as I can tell from the literature). So, if you follow the subspecies hypothesis, A. rostrata is not possibly extinct: rather, only the subspecies A. rostrata rostrata is. However, the suggestion that A. rostrata and A. fusca are conspecific is not universal: Storr et al. (1990) elevated A. fusca back to species status, and Wells (2007) even argued that it was distinct enough for its own âgenusâ, Abilenea. If the distinction of A. fusca relative to A. rostrata is followed, then A. rostrata is â so far as I can tell from the literature â still possibly extinct.

I canât check whatever they have on Arkive â for some reason, it isnât loading for me. I often have problems with Arkive and donât use it much for this reason.

Wells, R.W. 2007. Some taxonomic and nomenclatural considerations on the class Reptilia. A review of species in the genus Aprasia GRAY 1839 (Aprasiaidae) including the description of a new genus. Australian Biodiversity Record 6, 1-17.

Just checked my files, and the purported Solomons (not any specific island) 'elapid' was Micropechis crucifer De Vis, 1905. Covacevich and Ingram synonymised it with H. lacteus in 1981, and I 'rediscovered' and examined the holotype in about '99.

Unfortunately I didn't have access to Homoroselaps material at the time (the QM still has lots of gaps in the collection) AND the only reference I could find said it had single subcaudals, whereas the QM specimen's were divided. For a few days I thought it could be a close relative of Parapistocalamus only convergent on Harlequin Snake colour pattern - cf. similar patterns in Neotropical 'colubrid' species Liophis elegantissima (figured by Coborn 1991: 187) and Scolecophis atrocinctus (Mattison 1999: 81).

Naturally I am resentful and suspicious of Devis (or Thickthorn, another spelling variant he used) for letting me get all excited. Shame on him.

This post was a bit of a roller-coaster. It was very sad to hear of a peculiar little limbless lizard extirpated by nuclear weapons and then my spirits were restored on hearing it has taken the worst we have to offer and survived it! The coolest thing I've learned this week.

Willem's comment, genericized to "Thanks very much for this [post/series] on the [insert taxon name], Darren, I never realised how diverse and interesting they were!" could stand for my reaction to pretty much everything here at TetZoo.

If you'll recall from the historical documentary "Godzilla" (1998, starring Matthew Broderick), nuclear fallout has the unusual side-effect on lizards of making them grow to gigantic proportions and become asexual. I can only imagine that some individuals of Aprasia are the size of sandworms from Dune, and that they will inevitably end up in New York city, laying parthenogenetic eggs in Yankee Stadium.

Of course, because they don't have limbs or dorsal spines, they'll be much more difficult to snag on a suspension bridge.

@14
Â«Willem's comment, genericized to "Thanks very much for this [post/series] on the [insert taxon name], Darren, I never realised how diverse and interesting they were!" could stand for my reaction to pretty much everything here at TetZoo.Â»

Indeed.

Thank you Darren, yet again, for your whole blog. Such wide ranging topics, and a sustained level of awesomeness!!

thanks for helpful articles, It was very sad to hear of a peculiar little limbless lizard extirpated by nuclear weapons and then my spirits were restored on hearing it has taken the worst we have to offer and survived it! The coolest thing I've learned this week.

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On January 23rd 2007, Tet Zoo ver 2 - the ScienceBlogs version of Tetrapod Zoology - graced the intertoobz for the first time. There was rapturous applause, swooning, the delight of millions. Looking back at it now, that very first ver 2 post is rather odd. It's on the blood-feeding behaviour of…

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